Angus' father, William, lowered the flag to half staff before the family left to claim the sergeant's remains at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, said Carroll Hanson, 28, a close friend of Sgt. Angus'.

"That his father lowered the flag is amazing to me. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been to do that," he said.

A next-door neighbor's flag had also been lowered in honor of Sgt. Angus.

Angus and Hanson graduated together in 2000 from Armwood High School, and had been friends since the second grade.

"He was practically an adopted son of my family," the special education teacher recalled. "He ate dinner at my house four nights a week during high school."

After graduation, Angus spent about six months finding his way in life.

"He was on an unsure track for a while, and when he went into the Marines it really made him a beautiful human being," Hanson said.

Angus met his wife, Bonnie, in Tennessee through a mutual friend. The couple has a young daughter he loved dearly, Hanson said. They also were at Dover Tuesday night with his parents.

Not much for organized sports, Angus preferred outdoor activities.

"We hiked, canoed … we would go out and play at war, and he would show me what he knew," Hanson said.

In December, as his unit was departing for Afghanistan, Angus spoke with a reporter from CCTV, a Chinese television outlet.

"It's a jump and run kind of thing. You never know when you are going to go," he said. "It is not my first Christmas away from home. It is not going to be my last."